The present invention relates to a method of making articles of jewelry with one or more gems set in a metal support or setting and, more specifically, to a method of making articles of jewelry wherein one or more gems are properly set into the articles of jewelry during the casting of the metal support or setting.
Articles of jewelry are commonly formed by casting a precious metal support or setting and thereafter manually placing a gem or gems in position on the precious metal support or setting and anchoring the gem or gems in place in or on the precious metal support or setting, e.g. by hammering and moving metal or by bending prongs or other anchoring elements over facets of the gem or gems. A great deal of time and skill is required to properly orient and anchor the gem or gems in place, especially when several gems are being set in the support or setting. Thus, this procedure of making or manufacturing articles of jewelry greatly increases the cost of making or manufacturing such articles of jewelry and frequently, if one or more gems are not properly anchored in the support or setting, the gems become loose and are lost or the article of jewelry must be repaired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,282; issued May 15, 1979; inventor, Herbert Kull; (hereinafter the "Kull Patent") discloses a method of manufacturing articles of jewelry with a single gem set in the precious metal support during the casting process. While an improvement over the method of making such articles of jewelry described above, the method of manufacturing articles of jewelry disclosed in the Kull Patent still presents manufacturing problems. As pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,289; issued Jul. 12, 1983; inventor Franck Michaud; (hereinafter the "Michaud Patent"), the method described in the Kull Patent presents a problem with respect to maintaining the gem in its proper position and orientation during the formation of the wax model reproduction of the article of jewelry, especially when several gems are being set in the wax model reproduction. In the Kull Patent method of making an article of jewelry, a high degree of care must be exercised in closing the open rubber mold, after the gem(s) have been positioned in the open rubber mold, to keep from displacing the gem(s) prior to injecting the wax material to form the wax model reproduction, especially when several gems are being set in the wax model. The displacement of the gem(s), prior to the formation of the wax model reproduction, is not apparent until the wax model has been removed from the rubber mold thereby necessitating the removal of the gem(s) from the wax model after the wax model has been formed, the discarding of the wax model, and the repositioning of the gem(s) in the rubber mold to again attempt to form a wax model of the article of jewelry with the gem(s) properly positioned and oriented in the wax model.
The Michaud Patent attempts to solve the problem of gem displacement by forming rubber molds, from the article of jewelry to be reproduced, with opposing undercut grooves located in the sidewalls of the seats of each gem setting to engage portions of the girdles of the gems as the means of securing or anchoring the gems in the wax material model. An elastic wax material is introduced into the rubber mold to form the wax model. After the elastic wax model is removed from the rubber mold, the gems are "snapped" into their set position in the seats of the elastic wax model with the girdle of the gem in the opposed undercut grooves.
The method set forth in the Michaud Patent may solve some of the problems associated with the method disclosed in the Kull Patent. However, there has remained a need for a method of making such articles of jewelry which assures the accurate placement and orientation of the gems in the article of jewelry: without restricting the article of jewelry to those wherein each gem of the article is positioned relative to the precious metal support and other gems so that the mold can be provided with a seat with undercut grooves to hold each gem; and without requiring the sizes or dimensions and shapes of the gem girdles to be uniform.
Almost all diamonds and other gems are individually cut by hand and polished. Accordingly, the shapes and dimensions or sizes of the girdles of these hand cut gems differ. Even with respect to gems which are categorized as the same in dimensions or size and shape, there will be at least slight differences in the thicknesses or other dimensions of the girdles and the shape of the girdle will vary with some gems having a more sharply defined girdle and other gems having a more rounded girdle. Thus, when these gems are "snapped" into the undercut grooves, even for gems categorized as having the same size or dimensions and shape, there will be differences in the sizes or dimensions and shapes of the gems which will cause at least some of the gem seats to be expanded more than adjacent gem seats. While the wax materials used in processes, such as the Michaud process, may be somewhat elastic, in most instances the wax materials are not elastic enough to compensate for the over expansion of one gem seat (by the insertion of a gem) relative to adjacent gem seats. Accordingly, gems, having smaller dimensions or sizes and shapes, inserted into these adjacent gem seats will not be securely held in place. This problem is amplified when gems of different sizes and shapes are to be mounted adjacent each other in such a setting. There has also been a need to provide a method of making such articles of jewelry without requiring the use of elastic wax materials.